Valve Control

[bknight04]

Hey everyone -

I am very limited on electronic knowledge so I am sorry in advance for any confusion.

I am trying to control 16 very small solenoid valves through labview. I am struggling to find the best way to connect the two together. My professor suggested 1-wire but i do not think its going to work. i was hoping i could do something as simple as using a parrallel cable, with each wire going to an individual valve and having the computer know which wire to send power out too, but i doubt it is that simple. Is there anywhere anyone could direct me to, such as some sort of hardware that will help  me to accomplish this or drivers? If you need more information to answer i will be happy to include it. Thanks again in advance

Bryan Bean

[Henrik_Volkers]

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@bknight04 wrote:

Hey everyone -

I am very limited on electronic knowledge so I am sorry in advance for any confusion.

[...]

Bryan Bean

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So I would suggest a digital output board with 16 relais with LabVIEW driver

You should provide some more information on the solenoids: Voltage and current needed

How many activ valves at the same time?

With a little help from someone with electronic skills you maybe can use the low priced USB 6501 with 24 digital IO. But you need some driver circuitry (one resistor, one diode, one transistor ...per channel and a power supply. Type and values depend on your valves.)

Edit: PS: Add one additional resistor and an optocoupler per valve, just to protect the USB device

Message Edited by Henrik Volkers on 06-22-2006 02:21 PM